Actors who have played Bruce Wayne / Batman

Over the past seven decades, various actors have portrayed Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, in the movies, on television, and even on the radio.

So let's get to it. Please /msg or email me if you feel that I've left somebody out.

Lewis Wilson (1943) MOVIESThe Batman (1943) (serial)
Wilson starred as "The Batman" in a series of films for the big screen in this pre-television era in what was probably the first on-screen appearance of the Caped Crusader. Batman and Robin were portrayed as FBI agents because of serial regulations and sometimes fought "The Japs." Hey, this was during World War II. Thanks, Timeshredder.

Stacy Harris (1945) RADIOThe Adventures of Superman (1945)
Even though Batman never had his own radio program, the Caped Crusader guest starred many times on Superman's, sometimes taking the Man of Steel's place completely when the show's star needed a break. Stacy Harris was the first to do it on September 5, 1945.

Matt Crowley (1945 - late 40's??) RADIOThe Adventures of Superman (1945 - late 40's??)
Matt Crowley succeeded Harris as the voice of Batman and ended up being the actor most associated with Batman on the radio.

Adam West (1966 - 1968; 1984 - 1986) TV, MOVIESBatman 1966 - 1968; Batman the Movie (1966); Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (voice) (1984); The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (voice) (1986)
West is arguably the most memorable actor to ever play Batman, albeit in a campy send-up of our Dark Knight in a short-lived television series and a movie based on it. Then Mr. West returned in the 1980's for some animated Superfriends action. He is quite possibly the only Batman ever to have man boobs. WHAM! BANG! BASH! (cue trumpet blast).

Olan Soule (1973 - 1980) TVSuperfriends (voice) (1973); All New Super Friends Hour (voice) (1977); The World's Greatest SuperFriends (voice) (1979); SuperFriends Hour (voice)(1980)
Throughout most of the 1970's and into the 80's Olan Soule lended his voice to the Caped Crusader for almost all of the classic Superfriends cartoons. Saturday mornings would not have been the same without Mr. Soule's voice acting.

Michael Keaton (1989 - 1992) MOVIESBatman (1989); Batman Returns (1992)
The talented and versatile Michael Keaton took a crack at 1989's Batman movie, strangely taking second-billing to Jack Nicholson who played The Joker, and helped usher in a new Batman movie franchise that would peeter out in the late 90's. He only "returned" for one sequel.

Charles Roskilly (1989) MOVIESBatman (1989)
This kid played a young Bruce Wayne in flashback scenes. And he hasn't been seen since.

Ramsey Ellis (1995) MOVIESBatman Forever (1995)
Ramsey played a young Bruce Wayne in a flashback scene for this picture. And he didn't do much after that.

George Clooney (1997) MOVIESBatman & Robin (1997)
And he is arguably one of the best actors to play Batman in one of the worst Batman movies. He not only looked perfect to play Bruce Wayne but Clooney acted just about as great as he does in every role he plays. Unfortunately the picture stunk up the theaters and effectively killed that movie franchise.

Eric Lloyd (1997) MOVIESBatman & Robin (1997)
Ah, finally, a kid plays young Bruce Wayne in a Batman movie and doesn't disappear afterwards! Eric went on to star in many more films, most notably the last two films for the Santa Claus trilogy.

Michael Ironside (1998) TVThe New Batman Adventures (voice) (1998)
For one episode of this show, "Legends of the Dark Knight," Mr. Ironside plays "80's Batman." According to Uberbanana it is quite an iconic portrayal of the Dark Knight, the Batman of a child's fantasy that is almost exactly like a scene from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.

Gary Owens (1998) TVThe New Batman Adventures (voice) (1998)
For one episode of this show, the same one Michael Ironside was in, "Legends of the Dark Knight," Mr. Owens played "50's Batman."

Bruce Thomas (2002) TVBirds of Prey (2002)
One of the lesser-known actors to portray Batman, for two episodes of this short-lived WB series he donned the cowl.

Rino Romano (2004 - 2008) TVThe Batman (voice) (2004 - 2008)
Rino was the latest Saturday morning Caped Crusader and certainly modeled his voice performance after Conroy's in the previous modern Batman cartoons. The Batman was basically, with a similar animation style, a new version of the 1990's cartoon for the 21st century with nods to the Batman of decades past with a retro-sounding theme song.

Armie Hammer (2010) MOVIESJustice League of America (2010)
This was scrapped. See the Ben Affleck entry below. Poor Armie! He never even got to put on the cape! Oh well. At least he got to play The Lone Ranger.

Christian Bale (2005 - 2012) MOVIESBatman Begins (2005); The Dark Knight (2008); The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Bale gave us one of the best Batman and Bruce Wayne interpretations ever in the exciting newest Batman movie franchise that began with one of the best Batman movies ever, Batman Begins, and continued on with The Dark Knight and concluded with The Dark Knight Rises. It's too bad that the second installment of the series was connected to the tragic, sudden, and untimely death of Heath Ledger who gave one of the best performances as the Joker ever.

Gus Lewis (2005) MOVIESBatman Begins (2005)
He played "Bruce Wayne age 8" and had more lines than any other movie young Bruce Waynes before him, being more than just a kid seeing his parents gunned down.

Will Arnett (2014 - 2017) MOVIESThe Lego Movie (voice) (2014); The Lego Batman Movie (voice) (2017)
He did the voice of the seriously funny Lego Batman in the surprise blocky hit movie. It was such a good performance and beloved version of Batman that Arnett is coming back to play it again.

David Mazouz (2014 - present) TVGotham (2014 - present)
Mazouz plays a young Bruce Wayne in Fox's new Gotham TV series. The show deals with origin stories for (primarily) Detective James Gordon, as well as Bruce Wayne and many Batman villains and allies.

Hunter T. Candelaria (2014 - 2016) TVGotham Crusader (2014 - 2016)
This is supposedly a television mini series that I cannot get much information on as of updating this writeup.